OpenFeint

Do you like Gameloft games? If you do then you'll want to check out the new Gameloft LIVE! for Android. The idea is plenty familiar and so is the name (Xbox LIVE! anyone). They've brought together gaming, deals, and social all into one application similar to Xbox Live or OpenFeint to name a few. Instead this will be all about Gameloft complete with personalized avatars, game discounts and more.

Heck yeah, money! That's what every developer likes to hear, especially if they want time and resources to create the games and apps they want to make on platforms that are willing to dish out the cash. In this case, it's not the platform that's paying the case, it's a couple of powerhouses known as OpenFeint (social gaming network) and The9 (Chinese game publisher.) What these guys are doing is helping independent game publishers defray the cost of rebuilding (or simply building) their apps for Android, many of these independent developers having created these games for iOS because of what they saw as a simpler platform to develop for.

Ever since its launch, OpenFeint has become extremely popular. With support for well over 100 games, and 8 million downloads of supported titles, it's becoming the top social gaming platform for Android devices. Continuing on its launch streak, OpenFeint is bringing in 8 new games to Android today.

By now, you've probably got a game on your Android-based device that features the OpenFeint social gaming network. It's a way for you to compete with all of your friends, earn achievements in your favorite title, and basically just enjoy the social networking aspect of gaming with everyone you know who also uses a game with the network built in. The network has seen quite the growth on the Android network of devices, especially considering it was only six weeks ago that the service launched, but now things are getting better.

Announced back in July, OpenFeint - the popular networking structure allowing developers to add achievements, leaderboards, and in-game currency - is coming to Android this week. Android users have been looking for a universal way to not only connect them to their friends and play mobile games, but also participate in random matches and gain achievements.

There's no one out there that would say the Android Market doesn't have apps. It's got plenty of apps. Unfortunately, though, despite the gaming prowess that most of our high-end devices have, there's still not any killer games out there. Plenty of "good" ones, sure, but nothing that stands out amongst the crowd. Especially when the crowd includes Apple's App Store. But, that's about to change, as one of the largest social gaming networks that has thrived in the App Store for quite some time is finally making their jump to Android.